Spicilège: François Villon, Saint Julien l'Hospitalier, Dialogues Sur l'Amour, l'Art (Éd.1896) (Litterature)

by Marcel Schwob

“All over the world,” wrote Jorge Luis Borges, “there are devotees of the writer Marcel Schwob who constitute little secret societies.” One could argue that Spicilege, Schwob’s last book published under his name, constitutes the handbook to these societies: a handbook to Schwob’s work, to himself as erudite scholar and author, and to the twilight of the era of French symbolism that was giving way to a new, complex modernism—a modernity that would encompass such disparate entities as Paul Valéry and Alfred Jarry (both of whom would dedicate books to Schwob).

Marcel Schwob was, as Paul Léautaud described him, a “living library,” and the critical biographies gathered in the curated essays of Spicilege display a few of the volumes in that library: his groundbreaking research on François Villon (work that remains a cornerstone to our knowledge of Villon’s legacy), his passion for Robert Louis Stevenson, and his encounters with such less-remembered writers as George Meredith. But it is the carefully developed ideas in these essays and the eccentric yet thorough scholarship drawing them together that are of particular interest today: the understanding of criminal slang in the Middle Ages; the “romantic realism” of the adventure story; the study of prostitution in ancient Greece; the folklore inspired by a story by Gustave Flaubert; a complex critique of individuality that effectively laid the groundwork to what Jarry would come to define as “pataphysics”; and ruminations on such themes as perversity, laughter, biography, love, terror and pity, and art and anarchy.

Genres: Essays, Criticism, France

349 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1896

About the author

Marcel Schwob (1867-1905) was one of the key symbolist writers, standing in French literature alongside such names as Stephane Mallarme, Octave Mirbeau, Andre Gide, Leon Bloy, Jules Renard, Remy de Gourmont, and Alfred Jarry. His best-known works are Double Heart (1891), The King In The Gold Mask (1892), and Imaginary Lives (1896).

Reviews

[Dylan Rock · Rating 5 out of 5]

A under appreciated author in the English speaking world who has become a highly influential figure on those who seek him or have found him by mistake. These non-fiction pieces, although some are written like prose fiction influence, can be seen on figures as diverse and towering as Jorge Luis Borges and Guillermo Del Toro.

[Chuck LoPresti · Rating 4 out of 5]

With few exceptions - if it appears in Dr. Faustroll's library, I am interested. Alfred Jarry brought me to Schwob many years ago. I tracked down a copy of Schwob's Children's Crusade when it was out of print 15 years ago and it remains among my favorite possessions. Like Jarry, Schwob can vacillate between different modes of fiction and criticism with relative ease. Schwob was accurately described as a walking library - and that is on full display here. If you're familiar with Walter Benjamin's shorter essays - you'll find yourself on familiar ground here. Spicilege is a collection of scholarly essays on subjects germane to aesthetic appreciation including Love, Anarchy, Perversion among others. Also like Benjamin - some of these essays are more like fragments instead of fully realized ruminations and the experience is a bit uneven. I wouldn't start here if you're new to Schwob - Book of Monelle and Children's Crusade are fiction and far superior introductory experiences, at least to this reader. However if you're interested in critical theory and have the patience to read a writer who seeming had "read everything" before he died in 1905 - you don't want to miss this. Wakefield Press has released many recent Schwob translations and I think it's great that this important writer seems to be enjoying something of a posthumous resurgence.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was electrified by Schwob's novels — especially "Monelle" and "The King in the Golden Mask" — when I first read them, and have been picking up everything I can find by Wakefield as soon as it's translated. This collection (pulled together mostly from introductions to his previous books, as well as a few tracts submitted to magazines of his day) is instructive in understanding Schwob's approach, in particular, his immense curiosity and fascination with the personal peculiarities of the great minds that inspired him (and his appreciation for biography as an art of literary imagination rather than historical science). But most of the essays here fell flat for me. Exceptions were the essays titled "Perversity," "Love," and "Anarchy."

[Will Cumbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can't give it under 4 stars, because the opening and longest essay, a quarter of the volume, on Villon, is one of the best things I've ever read on the Middle Ages, a completely convincing and rich picture of the time managed without any imaginative liberties. Several of the other essays are excellent--a strong case for reading Robert Louis Stevenson, recountings of ancient and medieval myths, slight but evocative topical reflections. The last few pieces, dialogues, are too bad to allow the book 5 stars.

[Zach McCarthy]

It’s difficult to tell if a lot of this went over my head or if it’s just a little bit convoluted. Some of the chapters in the middle really resonated with me but I didn’t think it started or ended particularly strongly. Might have to revisit this one in a few years.

[anti solipsistic · Rating 3 out of 5]

somewhat disappointing considering how much i enjoy schwob's other works